Cathead construction



April 21, 1970 c, GUlLD E'i AL 3,507,457

CATHEAD CONSTRUCTION Filed July 12, 1968 INVENTORS CHARLES L. GUILDWILLARD B. GOODMAN ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,507,457 CATHEADCONSTRUCTION Charles L. Guild and Willard B. Goodman, both of 100 WaterSt., East Providence, RI. 02914 Filed July 12, 1968, Ser. No. 744,507

Int. Cl. B65h 75/18; B66d 1/30 US. Cl. 242117 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE A cathead constructed of a pair of heads with a spooltherebetween and an open end to receive water within the cathead that isused as a cooling medium for dissipating heat generated through thefriction of a line wound about the spool thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It has been previously proposed to coolcatheads such as are used in draw-works or hoists by the use of water asthe cooling medium. The principal attempts in this direction have beento provide cooling fins adjacent the inner end of the cathead and insome cases to provide a supply of water to this particular areaallowing, in some cases, for the water to flow into the interior of thecathead and be drawn off therefrom. An example of this approach is shownin the Dickson Patent 2,512,564 in which a cathead is provided with apassageway diametrically located with respect to the spool thereof sothat water could pass in and out, a tortuous path being provided by aplurality of cooling fins. This particular construction has certaindrawbacks in that the amount of water introduced into the interior ofthe cathead may very well build up to substantially fill the centralarea thereof, and inasmuch as the outlet port and inlet port are onlydiametrically located with respect to the inner end of the cathead, itbecomes exceedingly difiicult to insure that water passes in and out ofthe interior of the spool as desired. Further, since the cooling of thecathead is caused by the physical effect known as heat of vaporizationin which one thousand sixty b.t.u.s per pound are expended in raisingwater above the boiling water, it will be appreciated that water in theprior art device will not always be raised to the boiling point due tothe possibility of the changing thereof into a gas so that the mostefficient cooling cannot be effected. The instant invention provides fora small amount of water to be retained within the interior of thecathead with plenty of opportunity for outward spillage thereof andfurther the removal of the gaseous phase of the water which will developduring the cooling of the spool.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A cathead construction is provided witheffectively four parts, namely a pair of identical heads, a spool, anend plate and a hub means. The spool that is provided that extendsbetween the two heads may be made of a high strength alloy steel or maymerely be made from cold roll steel that has been suitably case hardenedor has been surface hardened by the utilization of other methods knownto those skilled in the art. Since wear generally develops at the innerend of the spool, the spool may be readily reversed by merelyunfastening a number of longitudinal bolts passed between the end plateand the hub member and the entire structure will readily thendisassemble. So that the cathead may be adaptable to a plurality ofshaft sizes, a split taper bushing is provided on the hub member.

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DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a central longitudinal sectionalview of the cathead construction in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view taken at the lefthand side of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to the drawings acathead body is composed of a pair of heads 11 and 12 which are ofidentical construction, each being provided with a counterbore or recess13 and 14 that open toward one face thereof. The inner end of each ofthe heads is provided with an inwardly extending ring boss 15 and 16which provides a shoulder 17 and 18 respectively on each of the heads toreceive a spool 20. A shaft hub means comprises a member 22 having acylindrical body 23 with a radially extending flange 24, which flange isseated in the recess or counterbore 13 of head 11. -A tapered bore 25 isprovided in the body 23 which receives a cooperating tapered bushing 26.The bushing 26 has a bore 27 with a keyway 28 and receives the end of ashaft 30 which is also provided with the keyway 31. A key 29 is locatedin these keyways. The bushing is adapted to be fastened into the body 23by a plurality of screws 32 that are received in threaded bores 34 ofthe body 23.

The head 12 is provided with a retainer plate which is received in therecess or counterbore 14 and this plate has a central aperture 41 whichis shown as having a chamfered section 42. A plurality of holes areprovided about the plate 40 which holes are designated 44 and whichreceive a plurality of bolts 45 that extend therethrough and through theradially extending flange 24 of the hub means 22. In this fashion thetwo heads are drawn together to retain the spool 20 in position. Thehead 12 is preferably provided near the outer end thereof with a groove46 and just inwardly of this groove 46 a cover plate 47 is placed whichalso has a central aperture 48, the cover plate being held in positionby a snap ring 49 located in the groove 46.

Water may be received in the interior of the completed structure andwill be retained therein to a level just below the aperture opening 41.As the spool heats up, it will be obvious that the water in contact withthe inner surface of the spool 20 may be easily heated to the boilingpoint and as briefly pointed out above, the heat of vaporization raisesthe water above its boiling point and by the absorption of such heatserves as a cooling effect on the cathead, and if steam is actuallygenerated within the body of the cathead, it may be easily expelledthrough the aperture openings 41 and 48. A cathead of this constructionmay be readily disassembled to replace a worn part and the spool 20 maybe reversed should wear occur at the inner end adjacent the head 11.Should any of the parts of this particular cathead become damaged, itmay be readily repaired and/or replaced by simple disassembly ofunscrewing the nuts on the bolts 45 and/or cutting the same should thecorrosion due to the presence of the Water be sufficient to preventnormal removal. However, the bolt heads and the nuts are exposed, thusallowing easy access thereto for breakage type of removal.

We claim:

1. A water cooled cathead construction comprising a pair of heads, atubular spool received between said heads, each head having an endopening recess, retainer plate means received in one of said recesses,said retainer plate having a central aperture, and a shaft hub meansreceived in the other of said recesses, fastening means between saidplate means and said hub means, said hub means when fastened in positionclosing the recess of the head whereby a partly closed chamber isprovided said open recess in said head and said aperture in saidretainer plate being open to receive water within said chamber fordissipating heat generated through the friction of a line wound aboutthe spool thereof.

2. A cathead as in claim 1 wherein said fastening means comprises boltsextending through said retainer plate and shaft hub means and exposedoutwardly of said plate and shaft hub means.

3. A cathead as in claim 1 wherein a cover having an opening thereincovers said retainer plate and means for detachably securing said coverin position.

4. A catbead as in claim 2 wherein a cover having an opening thereincovers the retainer plate and bolts therethrough and means fordetachably securing said cover in position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,234,811 3/1941 Smith 254-1502,284,540 5/1942 Purcell 2421 17 2,512,564 6/1950 Dickson 254-150 HARVEYc. HORNSBY, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

